Arizonan will head Homeland Security
Arizona Demcratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Barack Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.
Napolitano brings law and order experience from her stint as the Grand Canyon State’s first female attorney general. One of the nation’s most prominent female elected officials, she made frequent appearances on behalf of Barack Obama during the campaign. She was reelected to a second four-year term in 2006.
Transition insiders have long expected that she would be offered a Cabinet slot, although she had also been mentioned for other posts, including attorney general.
Napolitano, 50, endorsed Obama in early January, just as the primaries were kicking off, and the female up-and-comer's decision to back the Illinois senator got widespread coverage.
In 2005, Time magazine named her one of America’s five best governors, calling her “A Mountaineer on the Political Rise.”
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Showing posts with label Dept. of Homeland Security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dept. of Homeland Security. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Maybe it is time to worry now.
President elect Obama has made a decision, i just dont know what positive fruits this will bring to our cause.
Friday, October 3, 2008
So much for a budget crisis: DHS gets money for a whole year
Schwartzenegger thinks there isn't enough money in the California budget for DREAMers who need financial aide for college. But the federal government thinks there is plenty for the Department of Human Services, enough to fund them for an entire year. This is particularly interesting since most governmental sections only got funding until March 9, 2009.
----For Immediate Release Contact: Douglas Rivlin (rivlin@immigrationforum.org)
October 3, 2008 (202) 383-5987 or (202) 641-5198 (mobile)
Good Money After Bad: The DHS Budget and Immigration
Washington, DC – A Continuing Resolution passed by Congress kept the Government in business past midnight on Tuesday, the end of the fiscal year. Most parts of the government are funded only through March, 6, 2009, but the Department of Homeland Security’s budget for the whole year was approved. DHS will receive $39.98 billion. The following is a statement from Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum.
Happy Fiscal New Year, at least if you are in the DHS budget office. In the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis Congress still found time to approve the 2009 DHS budget in full. Rather than allocate funds to pay for integration of immigrants, backlog reduction, and improved services for immigration applicants, Congress has chosen to invest in dead end deportation-only programs that make no investment in America's future.
Congress continues the exponential growth of personnel (4,361 new hires) at Customs and Border Protection (CBP), shovels another $775 million into controversial border fencing, increases the budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to nearly $5 billion, $254 million more than in 2008, and adds even more detention beds (1400) for ICE to fill with people rounded up at workplace raids.
Fully $1 billion of ICE’s budget will go to targeting criminal aliens, which would be great if that was what was actually happening. So called “fugitive” teams have been striking in immigrant neighborhoods, disrupting families, and arresting, without warrant, any people who happen to be around. Combined with massive workplace raids targeting workers, but not employers, immigrant communities already feel under siege.
Other enforcement-only programs are also included. For example, states preparing to change their driver’s licenses to implement the REAL ID Act get $50 million; $5.4 million will go to a program to enlist state and local cops in enforcement under the 287(g) program; $2.4 billion goes the Office of Detention and Removal; and $100 million will go to the flawed E-Verify program, which was reauthorized by Congress only to early March of next year.
Of course, this all misses the point when it comes to immigration. This budget is almost exclusively about enforcing broken laws, rather than fixing those laws and modernizing our immigration system. With the backing of hardliners inside and outside of government, real immigration reform has been derailed, and this budget ensures that we will spend another year sending good money after bad.
Among the only bright spots is that there will be more accountability by DHS when it comes to immigrants in detention. The spending bill stipulates that contractors who fail to abide by the Department’s detention standards will have their contracts canceled, that independent experts will evaluate the state of medical care for detainees, and that the budget for alternatives to detention has been increased by $9.1 million to $63 million.
These dollops of sense on the big steaming pile of enforcement spending will help, but Congress and the new President must address the myriad problems with legal immigration, detention, due process rights, and the unresolved legal status of 12 million or so people who are already living here illegally.
# # #
Douglas G. Rivlin rivlin@immigrationforum.org
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Terrorism and Your Laptop
Whether you are addicted to Worlds of Warcraft, or are writing a book - the new statement by DHS that laptops may be confiscated while entering the United States is truly terrifying.
They have been confiscating laptops and cell phones of U.S. citizens, even though they admit there is not necessarily any room for suspicion. DHS was taken to court, but a judge in San Francisco ruled that it was ok to take into custody electronic devices without a reason for suspicion.
This announcement, along with the increasing numbers of immigrants being detained and deported, tells us that our government no longer believes in a civil society. While Michael Chertoff is saying that electronic devices are dangerous because they might contain terrorist material -- he does not realize that it is not the populace that is dangerous, but Chertoff himself and his army of minions.
Five months and twenty days until the new administration. Let's hope that our incoming president will cut our country loose from this fascist stranglehold.
In the meantime, if you are traveling out of the country, you might consider not taking your laptop, or if you do, back up everything before you leave home.
-----
Travelers' Laptops May be Detained At Border
No Suspicion Required Under DHS Policies
by Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008; Page A01Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.
Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"The policies . . . are truly alarming," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.
DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies -- which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens -- are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter.
Civil liberties and business travel groups have pressed the government to disclose its procedures as an increasing number of international travelers have reported that their laptops, cellphones and other digital devices have been taken -- for months, in at least one case -- and their contents examined.
The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion."
The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "
Reasonable measures must be taken to protect business information and attorney-client privileged material, the policies say, but there is no specific mention of the handling of personal data such as medical and financial records.
When a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information, any copies of the data must be destroyed. Copies sent to non-federal entities must be returned to DHS. But the documents specify that there is no limitation on authorities keeping written notes or reports about the materials.
"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies "don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched."
Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy." In a statement submitted to Feingold for a June hearing on the issue, he noted that the executive branch has long had "plenary authority to conduct routine searches and seizures at the border without probable cause or a warrant" to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.
With about 400 million travelers entering the country each year, "as a practical matter, travelers only go to secondary [for a more thorough examination] when there is some level of suspicion," Chertoff wrote. "Yet legislation locking in a particular standard for searches would have a dangerous, chilling effect as officers' often split-second assessments are second-guessed."
In April, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the government's power to conduct searches of an international traveler's laptop without suspicion of wrongdoing...
For link to U.S. Customs policy regarding laptops and other electronic equipment click here
for a link to this WP article, click here
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Crossing over to the dark side
Border Agents, Lured by the Other Side SAN DIEGO — The smuggler in the public service announcement sat handcuffed in prison garb, full of bravado and shrugging off the danger of bringing illegal immigrants across the border.
“Sometimes they die in the desert, or the cars crash, or they drown,” he said. “But it’s not my fault.”
The smuggler in the commercial, produced by the Mexican government several years ago, was played by an American named Raul Villarreal, who at the time was a United States Border Patrol agent and a spokesman for the agency here.
Now, federal investigators are asking: Was he really acting?
Mr. Villarreal and a brother, Fidel, also a former Border Patrol agent, are suspected of helping to smuggle an untold number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Brazil across the border. The brothers quit the Border Patrol two years ago and are believed to have fled to Mexico.
The Villarreal investigation is among scores of corruption cases in recent years that have alarmed officials in the Homeland Security Department just as it is hiring thousands of border agents to stem the flow of illegal immigration.
The pattern has become familiar: Customs officers wave in vehicles filled with illegal immigrants, drugs or other contraband. A Border Patrol agent acts as a scout for smugglers. Trusted officers fall prey to temptation and begin taking bribes.
Increased corruption is linked, in part, to tougher enforcement, driving smugglers to recruit federal employees as accomplices. It has grown so worrisome that job applicants will soon be subject to lie detector tests to ensure that they are not already working for smuggling organizations. In addition, homeland security officials have reconstituted an internal affairs unit at Customs and Border Protection, one of the largest federal law enforcement agencies, overseeing both border agents and customs officers.
When the Homeland Security Department was created in 2003, the internal affairs unit was dissolved and its functions spread among other agencies. Since the unit was reborn last year, it has grown from five investigators to a projected 200 by the end of the year.
Altogether, there are about 200 open cases pending against law enforcement employees who work the border. In the latest arrests, four employees in Arizona, Texas and California were charged this month with helping to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country.
While the corruption investigations involve a small fraction of the overall security workforce on the border, the numbers are growing. In the 2007 fiscal year, the Homeland Security Department’s main anticorruption arm, the inspector general’s office, had 79 investigations under way in the four states bordering Mexico, compared with 31 in 2003. Officials at other federal law enforcement agencies investigating border corruption also said their caseloads had risen.
Some of the recent cases involve border guards who had worked for their agencies for a short time, including the arrest this month of a recruit at the Border Patrol academy in New Mexico on gun smuggling charges.
The federal government says it carefully screens applicants, but some internal affairs investigators say they have been unable to keep up with the increased workload.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said James Wong, an internal affairs agent with Customs and Border Protection. “It’s very difficult for us to get out and vet each and every one of the applicants as well as we should.”
The Border Patrol alone is expected to grow to more than 20,000 agents by the end of 2009, more than double from 2001, when the agency began to expand in response to concerns about national security. There has also been a large increase in the number of customs officers.
James Tomsheck, the assistant commissioner for internal affairs at Customs and Border Protection, said the agency was “deeply concerned” that smugglers were sending operatives to take jobs with the Border Patrol and at ports.
Mr. Tomsheck said the agency intended to administer random lie-detector tests to 10 percent of new hires this year, with the goal of eventually testing all applicants. His office has contracts with 155 retired criminal investigators, adding 36 since last fall, to do background checks.
In one of the new corruption cases this month, at a border crossing east of San Diego, a customs officer allowed numerous cars with dozens of illegal immigrants and hundreds of pounds of drugs to pass through his inspection lane, investigators said.
The officer, Luis Alarid, 31, had worked at the crossing less than a year, and the loads included a vehicle driven by Mr. Alarid’s uncle, the authorities said. Mr. Alarid has pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to smuggle. Investigators found about $175,000 in cash in his house, according to court records.
In another recent case, Margarita Crispin, a customs inspector in El Paso, Tex., began helping drug smugglers just a few months after she was hired in 2003, according to prosecutors. She helped the smugglers for four years before she was arrested last year and sentenced in April to 20 years in prison and ordered to forfeit up to $5 million.
Although bad apples turn up in almost every law enforcement agency, the corruption cases expose a worrisome vulnerability for national and border security. The concern, several officials said, is that corrupt agents let people into the country whose intentions may be less innocent than finding work.
“If you can get a corrupt inspector, you have the keys to the kingdom,” said Andrew P. Black, an F.B.I. agent who supervises a multiagency task force focused on corruption on the San Diego border.
Comparing corruption among police agencies is difficult because of the varying standards and procedures for handling internal investigations, said Lawrence W. Sherman, the director of the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania and an authority on corruption.
But he described policing the border as “potentially one of the most corruptible tasks in law enforcement” because of the solitary nature of much of the work and the desperation of people seeking to cross.
Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, declined an interview. But in response to questions at a recent news conference, he suggested that the breadth and depth of border security improvements would inevitably produce problem officers.
“There is an old expression among prosecutors,” he said. “Big cases, big problems. Little cases, little problems. No cases, no problems. Some people take the view we ought to make no cases and then we would have no problems. I think that is a head-in-the-sand view, which I do not endorse...”
for complete NYT article, click here
*sorry about that, but I was six years old, and people didn't talk about animal rights in the late 1950s.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
A few words by Michael Chertoff Part V
continued
V. ASSIMILATING NEW IMMIGRANTS INTO OUR CIVIC CULTURE
Finally, we have continued to take the necessary actions to assimilate new Americans into the rich tapestry of American culture and society.
Part of this effort involves revising the naturalization test for U.S. citizenship to create a testing process that is more standardized, fair, and meaningful. The new test design, which USCIS announced last fall and expects to implement in October of this year, emphasizes fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. It is designed to encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify the basic values we all share as Americans, rather than simply memorize a set of facts.
Of course, knowledge of English is one of the most important components of assimilation. By learning English, immigrants are able to communicate and interact with their fellow Americans. It is the first step to full integration. Assimilation does not mean losing cultural identity or diversity. It means learning English and embracing the common civic values that bring us together as Americans and adopting a shared sense of those values.
To promote assimilation, USCIS' Office of Citizenship provides a number of educational products, resources, and training opportunities for community and faith-based organizations, civic organizations, adult educators, and volunteers who work with immigrants. This includes hosting regional training seminars. Adult educators, volunteers, and other organizations also use USCIS' publications and videos to teach English as a Second Language and American history, civics, and the naturalization process to immigrant students. Several new educational resources are initiatives of the Task Force on New Americans.
USCIS and USA Freedom Corps' New Americans Project are also currently engaged in a public service and educational campaign to promote volunteer opportunities among both U.S. citizens and immigrants to help newcomers adjust to life in the United States. The project also offers opportunities for immigrants to get involved in their communities through volunteer service.
VI. CONCLUSION
Immigration is an issue that goes to the very core of what it means to be an American. We must continue to welcome new generations of immigrants to the United States to pursue their dreams and enrich our civic culture and our society. But, as we also know, immigration has become an issue that is inextricably linked to our national security.
What I hope is clear from my testimony today is that we take our commitments with respect to immigration seriously and that we have made a great deal of progress over the past year. We have set clear goals and established strategies and timelines to meet those goals using the resources and authorities currently available to us.
As I stated at the beginning of my testimony, however, an enforcement-only approach will not address the full breadth of the nation's immigration challenges over the long term. Only congressional action will achieve that goal.
We stand ready to work with Congress this year to build on our success at the border and in the interior and to advance reforms that will create the necessary temporary worker programs and pathways to citizenship for those already in our country. Taking these actions will remove pressure from the border and allow our Department to continue its focus on protecting our nation against dangerous people while making progress across all areas of our mission. I look forward to working with this Committee to achieve these very important objectives for our nation.
V. ASSIMILATING NEW IMMIGRANTS INTO OUR CIVIC CULTURE
Finally, we have continued to take the necessary actions to assimilate new Americans into the rich tapestry of American culture and society.
Part of this effort involves revising the naturalization test for U.S. citizenship to create a testing process that is more standardized, fair, and meaningful. The new test design, which USCIS announced last fall and expects to implement in October of this year, emphasizes fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. It is designed to encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify the basic values we all share as Americans, rather than simply memorize a set of facts.
Of course, knowledge of English is one of the most important components of assimilation. By learning English, immigrants are able to communicate and interact with their fellow Americans. It is the first step to full integration. Assimilation does not mean losing cultural identity or diversity. It means learning English and embracing the common civic values that bring us together as Americans and adopting a shared sense of those values.
To promote assimilation, USCIS' Office of Citizenship provides a number of educational products, resources, and training opportunities for community and faith-based organizations, civic organizations, adult educators, and volunteers who work with immigrants. This includes hosting regional training seminars. Adult educators, volunteers, and other organizations also use USCIS' publications and videos to teach English as a Second Language and American history, civics, and the naturalization process to immigrant students. Several new educational resources are initiatives of the Task Force on New Americans.
USCIS and USA Freedom Corps' New Americans Project are also currently engaged in a public service and educational campaign to promote volunteer opportunities among both U.S. citizens and immigrants to help newcomers adjust to life in the United States. The project also offers opportunities for immigrants to get involved in their communities through volunteer service.
VI. CONCLUSION
Immigration is an issue that goes to the very core of what it means to be an American. We must continue to welcome new generations of immigrants to the United States to pursue their dreams and enrich our civic culture and our society. But, as we also know, immigration has become an issue that is inextricably linked to our national security.
What I hope is clear from my testimony today is that we take our commitments with respect to immigration seriously and that we have made a great deal of progress over the past year. We have set clear goals and established strategies and timelines to meet those goals using the resources and authorities currently available to us.
As I stated at the beginning of my testimony, however, an enforcement-only approach will not address the full breadth of the nation's immigration challenges over the long term. Only congressional action will achieve that goal.
We stand ready to work with Congress this year to build on our success at the border and in the interior and to advance reforms that will create the necessary temporary worker programs and pathways to citizenship for those already in our country. Taking these actions will remove pressure from the border and allow our Department to continue its focus on protecting our nation against dangerous people while making progress across all areas of our mission. I look forward to working with this Committee to achieve these very important objectives for our nation.
A few words by Michael Chertoff Part IV
IV. IMPROVING EXISTING IMMIGRATION PROCESSES
As we take steps to meet the lawful needs of our economy, we are also working to improve existing immigration benefits and services for those seeking to live in, work in, or immigrate to the United States.
As you know, USCIS has faced a challenge keeping pace with unprecedented levels of citizenship applications. During Fiscal Year 2007, USCIS received 1.4 million requests for citizenship, which is nearly double the 730,000 received in Fiscal Year 2006. In June, July, and August 2007 alone, USCIS received more than 3 million immigration benefit applications and petitions of all types, compared to 1.8 million during the same period the previous year. In fact, for the months of June and July 2007, the spike in naturalization applications represents a 360 percent increase compared to the same period in 2006. We anticipate that it may take 13 to 15 months to work through these citizenship cases. The processing time goal is seven months.
Much of this spike in citizenship applications came in anticipation of an increase in application processing fees that USCIS implemented in July 2007 to add needed resources and capacity to its operations. USCIS is a fee-funded agency and draws its operating expenses from the fees it collects from applicants. By raising fees, USCIS has put itself on a path to modernize its aging business practices and meet an ever-expanding set of responsibilities.
Raising fee revenue gave USCIS the ability to begin to substantially expand capacity to process applications. As an agency primarily funded through fees, USCIS could only begin to take on more personnel once the new revenue structure was approved and in place. Nevertheless, USCIS began the planning process for this hiring and had shifted existing resources towards overtime. USCIS will hire 1,500 new employees resulting from the new fee structure, 723 of whom are adjudicators. More than 869 permanent employees (442 adjudicators) have already been hired. USCIS will also hire an additional 1,800 employees as part of its backlog reduction plan and has been approved to rehire experienced retirees on a temporary basis to assist with adjudications.
Moreover, the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) continues to enhance the integrity of the legal immigration system by identifying threats to national security and public safety, detecting and combating benefit fraud, and removing other vulnerabilities. During Fiscal Year 2007, FDNS submitted approximately 8,700 fraud or criminal alien referrals to ICE. While USCIS works through the backlog of cases, it remains committed to ensuring the preservation of high quality standards and anti-fraud counter-measures.
In addition, USCIS has modified its background and security check policies with respect to applications for lawful permanent residence to make them consistent with those of ICE. Under this new guidance, USCIS will continue to require that a definitive FBI fingerprint check and Interagency Border Inspection Services (IBIS) check be obtained and resolved favorably before adjusting the status of an individual to that of a lawful permanent resident. USCIS will also continue to require initiation of the FBI name checks, but it will grant an adjustment of status application if it is otherwise approvable and the FBI name check request has been pending for more than 180 days. At that point, the name check will continue, and if actionable derogatory or adverse information is later received from the FBI, the Department will take appropriate action, which may include rescinding the individual's lawful permanent resident status and/or initiating removal proceedings against that individual. This change to security check policies will help reduce the backlog of adjustment of status applications without compromising our commitment to national security or the integrity of the immigration system.
Beyond the August 2007 initiatives to improve border security and immigration, USCIS also continues to work closely and cooperatively with the State Department to process refugees from foreign countries, including Iraqi nationals. The Department's role in this process is to interview and adjudicate cases, perform certain security checks, and make sure that cases are approved once all the necessary steps have been completed. The U.S. government has put in place the resources necessary to process and admit up to 12,000 Iraqi refugees this fiscal year. This remains an attainable but challenging goal. The results depend on a number of factors and variables outside our control.
While USCIS officers are interviewing Iraqi refugee applicants in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Lebanon, limits on our refugee processing capacity in Syria continue to make it difficult for the program to reach its full potential. To further assist this process, we are implementing in-country refugee processing in Iraq for U.S. Embassy staff. This could potentially allow even greater numbers of individuals who have assisted U.S efforts in Iraq to seek resettlement in the U.S.
As of March 19, USCIS had completed interviews of over 7,600 Iraqi refugee applicants this fiscal year, and we expect that the total will exceed 8,000 applicants when the final figures for the second quarter - which just ended on Monday - are tallied. USCIS plans to interview approximately 8,000 more Iraqis during the third quarter. Since the program's inception last spring, a total of 21,847 individuals have been referred for resettlement. Altogether, USCIS has completed interviews of 12,163 individuals. To date, 3,835 Iraqi refugees have been admitted to the United States in Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008.
We remain committed to working with the State Department to process eligible Iraqis as efficiently as possible. However, we will not compromise our nation's security by relaxing our standards or cutting corners...
As we take steps to meet the lawful needs of our economy, we are also working to improve existing immigration benefits and services for those seeking to live in, work in, or immigrate to the United States.
As you know, USCIS has faced a challenge keeping pace with unprecedented levels of citizenship applications. During Fiscal Year 2007, USCIS received 1.4 million requests for citizenship, which is nearly double the 730,000 received in Fiscal Year 2006. In June, July, and August 2007 alone, USCIS received more than 3 million immigration benefit applications and petitions of all types, compared to 1.8 million during the same period the previous year. In fact, for the months of June and July 2007, the spike in naturalization applications represents a 360 percent increase compared to the same period in 2006. We anticipate that it may take 13 to 15 months to work through these citizenship cases. The processing time goal is seven months.
Much of this spike in citizenship applications came in anticipation of an increase in application processing fees that USCIS implemented in July 2007 to add needed resources and capacity to its operations. USCIS is a fee-funded agency and draws its operating expenses from the fees it collects from applicants. By raising fees, USCIS has put itself on a path to modernize its aging business practices and meet an ever-expanding set of responsibilities.
Raising fee revenue gave USCIS the ability to begin to substantially expand capacity to process applications. As an agency primarily funded through fees, USCIS could only begin to take on more personnel once the new revenue structure was approved and in place. Nevertheless, USCIS began the planning process for this hiring and had shifted existing resources towards overtime. USCIS will hire 1,500 new employees resulting from the new fee structure, 723 of whom are adjudicators. More than 869 permanent employees (442 adjudicators) have already been hired. USCIS will also hire an additional 1,800 employees as part of its backlog reduction plan and has been approved to rehire experienced retirees on a temporary basis to assist with adjudications.
Moreover, the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) continues to enhance the integrity of the legal immigration system by identifying threats to national security and public safety, detecting and combating benefit fraud, and removing other vulnerabilities. During Fiscal Year 2007, FDNS submitted approximately 8,700 fraud or criminal alien referrals to ICE. While USCIS works through the backlog of cases, it remains committed to ensuring the preservation of high quality standards and anti-fraud counter-measures.
In addition, USCIS has modified its background and security check policies with respect to applications for lawful permanent residence to make them consistent with those of ICE. Under this new guidance, USCIS will continue to require that a definitive FBI fingerprint check and Interagency Border Inspection Services (IBIS) check be obtained and resolved favorably before adjusting the status of an individual to that of a lawful permanent resident. USCIS will also continue to require initiation of the FBI name checks, but it will grant an adjustment of status application if it is otherwise approvable and the FBI name check request has been pending for more than 180 days. At that point, the name check will continue, and if actionable derogatory or adverse information is later received from the FBI, the Department will take appropriate action, which may include rescinding the individual's lawful permanent resident status and/or initiating removal proceedings against that individual. This change to security check policies will help reduce the backlog of adjustment of status applications without compromising our commitment to national security or the integrity of the immigration system.
Beyond the August 2007 initiatives to improve border security and immigration, USCIS also continues to work closely and cooperatively with the State Department to process refugees from foreign countries, including Iraqi nationals. The Department's role in this process is to interview and adjudicate cases, perform certain security checks, and make sure that cases are approved once all the necessary steps have been completed. The U.S. government has put in place the resources necessary to process and admit up to 12,000 Iraqi refugees this fiscal year. This remains an attainable but challenging goal. The results depend on a number of factors and variables outside our control.
While USCIS officers are interviewing Iraqi refugee applicants in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Lebanon, limits on our refugee processing capacity in Syria continue to make it difficult for the program to reach its full potential. To further assist this process, we are implementing in-country refugee processing in Iraq for U.S. Embassy staff. This could potentially allow even greater numbers of individuals who have assisted U.S efforts in Iraq to seek resettlement in the U.S.
As of March 19, USCIS had completed interviews of over 7,600 Iraqi refugee applicants this fiscal year, and we expect that the total will exceed 8,000 applicants when the final figures for the second quarter - which just ended on Monday - are tallied. USCIS plans to interview approximately 8,000 more Iraqis during the third quarter. Since the program's inception last spring, a total of 21,847 individuals have been referred for resettlement. Altogether, USCIS has completed interviews of 12,163 individuals. To date, 3,835 Iraqi refugees have been admitted to the United States in Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008.
We remain committed to working with the State Department to process eligible Iraqis as efficiently as possible. However, we will not compromise our nation's security by relaxing our standards or cutting corners...
A few words by Michael Chertoff Part II
continued
Unfortunately, there is another sign our efforts at the border are succeeding: an increase in violence against the Border Patrol, up 31 percent in Fiscal Year 2007. Last month, for example, the Border Patrol discovered a piece of wire that had been stretched across a road between double fencing so it could be pulled tight to seriously harm or kill an agent riding on an all-terrain vehicle. We will not tolerate violence against our agents. The Border Patrol is authorized to use force as necessary and appropriate to protect themselves.
Ports of Entry
Of course, it makes little sense to secure the long stretches of border between our official ports of entry if we continue to have possible gaps in border security at the ports of entry themselves.
Since the Department's creation, we have continued to make major advances to prevent dangerous people from entering our country through official ports of entry. We have fully implemented US- VISIT two-fingerprint capabilities at all U.S. ports of entry. The State Department has deployed 10 fingerprint capabilities to all U.S. consulates overseas. We also have begun deploying 10 fingerprint capabilities to select U.S. airports (currently at 10 airport locations), with the goal of full deployment to airports by the end of this calendar year.
As you know, US-VISIT checks a visitor's fingerprints against records of immigration violators and FBI records of criminals and known or suspected terrorists. Checking biometrics against immigration and criminal databases and watch lists helps officers make visa determinations and admissibility decisions. Collecting 10 fingerprints also improves fingerprint-matching accuracy and our ability to compare a visitor's fingerprints against latent fingerprints collected by the Department of Defense and the FBI from known and unknown terrorists all over the world.
In January of this year, we also ended the routine practice of accepting oral declarations of citizenship and identity at our land and sea ports of entry. People entering our country, including U.S. citizens, are now asked to present documentary evidence of their citizenship and identity from a specified list of acceptable documentation. Not only will this help reduce the number of false claims of U.S. citizenship, but it will reduce the opportunity for document fraud by narrowing the list of more than 8,000 different documents that a traveler might present to our CBP officers. These changes are improving security and efficiency at the ports of entry. Over the next 14 months, we will continue to create an effective transition period for implementation of the land and sea portion of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) beginning in June 2009.
I might add that we implemented these most recent changes in travel document requirements without causing discernable increases in wait times at the border. Compliance rates are high and continue to increase. U.S. and Canadian citizens are presenting the requested documents when crossing the border. This is a great "non-news" story, demonstrating that we can improve security at the ports of entry without sacrificing convenience.
Furthermore, as we move toward full WHTI implementation, we'll be utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID), which is a proven technology that has successfully facilitated travel and trade across our land borders since 1995 through our trusted traveler programs. RFID-enabled documents transmit a number (there is no personal information stored on the chip). WHTI will be implementing the latest state-of-the-art RFID technology, which has been assessed and tested to achieve a 95% read rate of up to 8 occupants in a vehicle at a range of 10 to 15 feet.
CBP has technology currently in place at all ports of entry to read any travel document with a machine-readable zone, including passports, Enhanced Drivers Licenses, and the new Passport Card to be issued by the Department of State. All CBP officers at the ports of entry are currently trained in the use of this technology.
In preparation for full WHTI implementation, CBP awarded a contract on January 10, 2008 to begin the process of deploying vicinity RFID facilitative technology and infrastructure to 354 vehicle primary lanes at 39 high-volume land ports of entry over the next two fiscal years. CBP deployed this new technology in vehicle primary lanes at the ports of Blaine and Nogales on February 12, 2008, in support of the anticipated RFID hardware installation.
II. ENHANCING INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT
Our second major area of focus is interior enforcement, which includes targeted worksite enforcement operations across the United States; increasing fines and penalties; seizing assets and when appropriate, seeking incarceration for those who break the law; providing better tools to help employers maintain a stable, legal workforce; and identifying, arresting, and removing fugitives, criminals, and illegal alien gang members who pose a threat to the American people.
In Fiscal Year 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed or returned more than 282,000 illegal aliens as part of a comprehensive interior enforcement strategy focused on more efficient processing of apprehended illegal aliens and reducing the criminal and fugitive alien populations.
This strategy has resulted in sustained advances across multiple areas of ICE's mission, including the continuation of "catch and return," a reengineered and more effective detention and removal system, and new agreements with foreign countries to ensure prompt and efficient repatriation of their citizens, including most recently a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam which went into effect on March 22, 2008.
Worksite Enforcement
Fiscal Year 2007 represented a step forward for ICE's worksite enforcement efforts. ICE made 4,077 administrative arrests and 863 criminal arrests in targeted worksite enforcement operations across the country. Ninety-two of those arrested for criminal violations were in the employer's supervisory chain and 771 were other employees.
The majority of the employee criminal arrests were for identity theft. The employer criminal arrests included illegal hiring, harboring, conspiracy, and identity theft. Some cases also included money laundering charges.
Some recent worksite enforcement cases include:
Universal Industrial Sales, Inc: On February 7, 2008, fifty-seven illegal aliens were arrested during a worksite enforcement operation conducted at Universal Industrial Sales Inc. (UIS) in Lindon, Utah. ICE forwarded roughly 30 cases to the Utah County Attorney's Office for possible criminal prosecution for offenses such as identity theft, forgery, and document fraud. On the federal side, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah unsealed two indictments charging the company and its human resource director with harboring illegal aliens and encouraging or inducing workers to stay in the United States illegally.
George's Processing: On May 22, 2007, a total of 136 employees were arrested at the George's Processing plant as part of this investigation into identity theft, Social Security Fraud, and immigration-related violations. Twenty-eight of these 136 employees were later indicted for identity theft and those have been adjudicated. As a result, a second indictment was returned in October 2007 charging eight human resource managers. One manager has pled guilty, and one was found guilty at a jury trial.
RCI Incorporated: On March 3, 2008, the former President, Vice President and Accountant of RCI Incorporated - a nationwide cleaning service - were sentenced to 120, 51 and 30 months respectively for harboring illegal aliens and conspiring to defraud the United States. The RCI corporate members also agreed to forfeit an aggregate sum of approximately $2.8 million. In addition, the RCI corporate members are also jointly and severable liable for approximately $16.2 million in tax penalties. A total of 244 illegal aliens were arrested as a result of this investigation.
Stucco Design Inc.: On March 7, 2007, the owner of an Indiana business that performed stucco-related services at construction sites in seven Midwest states pled guilty to violations related to the harboring of illegal aliens. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and forfeited $1.4 million in ill-gotten gains.
These are the kinds of cases that have a high impact on those who would hire and employ undocumented and illegal aliens often facilitated through identity theft and document fraud.
Increasing Fines Against Employers
As a further disincentive to hire illegal aliens, we have partnered with the Department of Justice to increase civil fines on employers by approximately 25 percent, which is the maximum we can do under existing law. This action was one of the 26 administrative reforms we announced in August and is intended to change behavior and hold unscrupulous employers accountable for their actions.
Expanding Workforce Tools
As we are holding employers accountable for breaking the law, we are also providing honest employers with an expanded set of tools to maintain a stable, legal workforce.
We are moving ahead with supplemental rule-making to our No-Match Rule published last year. As you may know, this rule provided a safe harbor for employers that followed a clear set of procedures in response to receiving a Social Security Administration Employer No-Match Letter that indicated a potential problem with an employee's records, or receiving a Department of Homeland Security letter regarding employment verifications. Unfortunately, the American Civil Liberties Union and others have sued the Department to stop the rule from taking effect. We have made progress in addressing the judge's concerns by releasing a supplemental proposed rule on March 21 that provides a more detailed analysis of our no-match policy. The supplemental No- Match proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2008 (73 FR 15944).
We are also working to promote the use of E-Verify, an on-line system administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that allows employers to check, in most cases within seconds, whether an employee is authorized to work in the United States. Some states have begun to require employers to enroll in E- Verify, most notably Arizona, where the system is adding about 500 new users per week. Nationally, we are adding 1,000 new E- verify users per week. More than 58,000 employers are currently enrolled, compared to 24,463 at the end of Fiscal Year 2007, and nearly 2 million new hires have been queried this fiscal year. We are expanding outreach across the country in an effort to increase participation. To support this work, we have requested $100 million in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget.
We recognize no system is perfect, and some employers may not comply with all requirements of the program. For this reason, we are establishing a robust monitoring and compliance unit to check employers' use of E-Verify and respond to situations where employers could use the system in a discriminatory or otherwise unlawful manner. We are also increasing our outreach to employers and the American public to ensure that employers and employees understand their respective rights and obligations.
Additionally, we have added a new photo screening tool capability to E-Verify that will significantly reduce document fraud. With this new enhancement, employers are able to compare the photo on DHS-issued permanent residence cards, (green cards) and employment authorization documents (EAD) with the photo held in the DHS database to determine if the document is authentic.
E-Verify is a critical program that businesses across our country rely upon to obtain quick, accurate information about a worker's legal status. It is important that Congress take the appropriate action to reauthorize E-Verify this year so that employers can continue to benefit from this valuable system.
Finally, the federal government will continue to lead by example. In the near future, the Administration will take steps to require federal contractors to use E-Verify. As there are more than 200,000 companies doing business with the federal government, this will significantly expand the use of E-Verify and make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain jobs through fraud.
Boosting State, Local, and International Cooperation
Of course, while immigration enforcement is primarily a federal responsibility, we also work with state and local law enforcement who want to participate in our immigration enforcement efforts by receiving training and contributing to joint federal, state, local, and international law enforcement initiatives.
Much of this work is organized through the ICE Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ICE ACCESS) program, which includes training under the 287(g) program, participation in Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BEST) and Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces (DBFTF)...
Unfortunately, there is another sign our efforts at the border are succeeding: an increase in violence against the Border Patrol, up 31 percent in Fiscal Year 2007. Last month, for example, the Border Patrol discovered a piece of wire that had been stretched across a road between double fencing so it could be pulled tight to seriously harm or kill an agent riding on an all-terrain vehicle. We will not tolerate violence against our agents. The Border Patrol is authorized to use force as necessary and appropriate to protect themselves.
Ports of Entry
Of course, it makes little sense to secure the long stretches of border between our official ports of entry if we continue to have possible gaps in border security at the ports of entry themselves.
Since the Department's creation, we have continued to make major advances to prevent dangerous people from entering our country through official ports of entry. We have fully implemented US- VISIT two-fingerprint capabilities at all U.S. ports of entry. The State Department has deployed 10 fingerprint capabilities to all U.S. consulates overseas. We also have begun deploying 10 fingerprint capabilities to select U.S. airports (currently at 10 airport locations), with the goal of full deployment to airports by the end of this calendar year.
As you know, US-VISIT checks a visitor's fingerprints against records of immigration violators and FBI records of criminals and known or suspected terrorists. Checking biometrics against immigration and criminal databases and watch lists helps officers make visa determinations and admissibility decisions. Collecting 10 fingerprints also improves fingerprint-matching accuracy and our ability to compare a visitor's fingerprints against latent fingerprints collected by the Department of Defense and the FBI from known and unknown terrorists all over the world.
In January of this year, we also ended the routine practice of accepting oral declarations of citizenship and identity at our land and sea ports of entry. People entering our country, including U.S. citizens, are now asked to present documentary evidence of their citizenship and identity from a specified list of acceptable documentation. Not only will this help reduce the number of false claims of U.S. citizenship, but it will reduce the opportunity for document fraud by narrowing the list of more than 8,000 different documents that a traveler might present to our CBP officers. These changes are improving security and efficiency at the ports of entry. Over the next 14 months, we will continue to create an effective transition period for implementation of the land and sea portion of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) beginning in June 2009.
I might add that we implemented these most recent changes in travel document requirements without causing discernable increases in wait times at the border. Compliance rates are high and continue to increase. U.S. and Canadian citizens are presenting the requested documents when crossing the border. This is a great "non-news" story, demonstrating that we can improve security at the ports of entry without sacrificing convenience.
Furthermore, as we move toward full WHTI implementation, we'll be utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID), which is a proven technology that has successfully facilitated travel and trade across our land borders since 1995 through our trusted traveler programs. RFID-enabled documents transmit a number (there is no personal information stored on the chip). WHTI will be implementing the latest state-of-the-art RFID technology, which has been assessed and tested to achieve a 95% read rate of up to 8 occupants in a vehicle at a range of 10 to 15 feet.
CBP has technology currently in place at all ports of entry to read any travel document with a machine-readable zone, including passports, Enhanced Drivers Licenses, and the new Passport Card to be issued by the Department of State. All CBP officers at the ports of entry are currently trained in the use of this technology.
In preparation for full WHTI implementation, CBP awarded a contract on January 10, 2008 to begin the process of deploying vicinity RFID facilitative technology and infrastructure to 354 vehicle primary lanes at 39 high-volume land ports of entry over the next two fiscal years. CBP deployed this new technology in vehicle primary lanes at the ports of Blaine and Nogales on February 12, 2008, in support of the anticipated RFID hardware installation.
II. ENHANCING INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT
Our second major area of focus is interior enforcement, which includes targeted worksite enforcement operations across the United States; increasing fines and penalties; seizing assets and when appropriate, seeking incarceration for those who break the law; providing better tools to help employers maintain a stable, legal workforce; and identifying, arresting, and removing fugitives, criminals, and illegal alien gang members who pose a threat to the American people.
In Fiscal Year 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed or returned more than 282,000 illegal aliens as part of a comprehensive interior enforcement strategy focused on more efficient processing of apprehended illegal aliens and reducing the criminal and fugitive alien populations.
This strategy has resulted in sustained advances across multiple areas of ICE's mission, including the continuation of "catch and return," a reengineered and more effective detention and removal system, and new agreements with foreign countries to ensure prompt and efficient repatriation of their citizens, including most recently a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam which went into effect on March 22, 2008.
Worksite Enforcement
Fiscal Year 2007 represented a step forward for ICE's worksite enforcement efforts. ICE made 4,077 administrative arrests and 863 criminal arrests in targeted worksite enforcement operations across the country. Ninety-two of those arrested for criminal violations were in the employer's supervisory chain and 771 were other employees.
The majority of the employee criminal arrests were for identity theft. The employer criminal arrests included illegal hiring, harboring, conspiracy, and identity theft. Some cases also included money laundering charges.
Some recent worksite enforcement cases include:
Universal Industrial Sales, Inc: On February 7, 2008, fifty-seven illegal aliens were arrested during a worksite enforcement operation conducted at Universal Industrial Sales Inc. (UIS) in Lindon, Utah. ICE forwarded roughly 30 cases to the Utah County Attorney's Office for possible criminal prosecution for offenses such as identity theft, forgery, and document fraud. On the federal side, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah unsealed two indictments charging the company and its human resource director with harboring illegal aliens and encouraging or inducing workers to stay in the United States illegally.
George's Processing: On May 22, 2007, a total of 136 employees were arrested at the George's Processing plant as part of this investigation into identity theft, Social Security Fraud, and immigration-related violations. Twenty-eight of these 136 employees were later indicted for identity theft and those have been adjudicated. As a result, a second indictment was returned in October 2007 charging eight human resource managers. One manager has pled guilty, and one was found guilty at a jury trial.
RCI Incorporated: On March 3, 2008, the former President, Vice President and Accountant of RCI Incorporated - a nationwide cleaning service - were sentenced to 120, 51 and 30 months respectively for harboring illegal aliens and conspiring to defraud the United States. The RCI corporate members also agreed to forfeit an aggregate sum of approximately $2.8 million. In addition, the RCI corporate members are also jointly and severable liable for approximately $16.2 million in tax penalties. A total of 244 illegal aliens were arrested as a result of this investigation.
Stucco Design Inc.: On March 7, 2007, the owner of an Indiana business that performed stucco-related services at construction sites in seven Midwest states pled guilty to violations related to the harboring of illegal aliens. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and forfeited $1.4 million in ill-gotten gains.
These are the kinds of cases that have a high impact on those who would hire and employ undocumented and illegal aliens often facilitated through identity theft and document fraud.
Increasing Fines Against Employers
As a further disincentive to hire illegal aliens, we have partnered with the Department of Justice to increase civil fines on employers by approximately 25 percent, which is the maximum we can do under existing law. This action was one of the 26 administrative reforms we announced in August and is intended to change behavior and hold unscrupulous employers accountable for their actions.
Expanding Workforce Tools
As we are holding employers accountable for breaking the law, we are also providing honest employers with an expanded set of tools to maintain a stable, legal workforce.
We are moving ahead with supplemental rule-making to our No-Match Rule published last year. As you may know, this rule provided a safe harbor for employers that followed a clear set of procedures in response to receiving a Social Security Administration Employer No-Match Letter that indicated a potential problem with an employee's records, or receiving a Department of Homeland Security letter regarding employment verifications. Unfortunately, the American Civil Liberties Union and others have sued the Department to stop the rule from taking effect. We have made progress in addressing the judge's concerns by releasing a supplemental proposed rule on March 21 that provides a more detailed analysis of our no-match policy. The supplemental No- Match proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2008 (73 FR 15944).
We are also working to promote the use of E-Verify, an on-line system administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that allows employers to check, in most cases within seconds, whether an employee is authorized to work in the United States. Some states have begun to require employers to enroll in E- Verify, most notably Arizona, where the system is adding about 500 new users per week. Nationally, we are adding 1,000 new E- verify users per week. More than 58,000 employers are currently enrolled, compared to 24,463 at the end of Fiscal Year 2007, and nearly 2 million new hires have been queried this fiscal year. We are expanding outreach across the country in an effort to increase participation. To support this work, we have requested $100 million in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget.
We recognize no system is perfect, and some employers may not comply with all requirements of the program. For this reason, we are establishing a robust monitoring and compliance unit to check employers' use of E-Verify and respond to situations where employers could use the system in a discriminatory or otherwise unlawful manner. We are also increasing our outreach to employers and the American public to ensure that employers and employees understand their respective rights and obligations.
Additionally, we have added a new photo screening tool capability to E-Verify that will significantly reduce document fraud. With this new enhancement, employers are able to compare the photo on DHS-issued permanent residence cards, (green cards) and employment authorization documents (EAD) with the photo held in the DHS database to determine if the document is authentic.
E-Verify is a critical program that businesses across our country rely upon to obtain quick, accurate information about a worker's legal status. It is important that Congress take the appropriate action to reauthorize E-Verify this year so that employers can continue to benefit from this valuable system.
Finally, the federal government will continue to lead by example. In the near future, the Administration will take steps to require federal contractors to use E-Verify. As there are more than 200,000 companies doing business with the federal government, this will significantly expand the use of E-Verify and make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain jobs through fraud.
Boosting State, Local, and International Cooperation
Of course, while immigration enforcement is primarily a federal responsibility, we also work with state and local law enforcement who want to participate in our immigration enforcement efforts by receiving training and contributing to joint federal, state, local, and international law enforcement initiatives.
Much of this work is organized through the ICE Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ICE ACCESS) program, which includes training under the 287(g) program, participation in Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BEST) and Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces (DBFTF)...
A few words by Michael Chertoff Part III
continued
Through the 287(g) program, ICE delegates enforcement powers to state and local agencies who serve as force multipliers in their communities. As of March 20, 2008, ICE has signed 47 memoranda of agreement (MOAs) with state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in the program. Last year, ICE trained 422 state and local officers. In the program's last two years, it has identified more than 28,000 illegal aliens for potential deportation.
ICE also has continued to expand its BEST teams to work cooperatively with domestic and foreign law enforcement counterparts to dismantle criminal organizations operating near the border. In Fiscal Year 2007, ICE launched new BEST teams in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, and in San Diego, bringing the total number of teams to five. These task forces have been responsible for 519 criminal arrests and 1,145 administrative arrests of illegal aliens, the seizure of 52,518 pounds of marijuana and 2,066 pounds of cocaine, 178 vehicles, 12 improvised explosive devices, and more than $2.9 million in U.S. currency.
ICE DBFTFs are a strong law enforcement presence that combats fraud utilizing existing manpower and authorities. Through comprehensive criminal investigations, successful prosecutions, aggressive asset forfeiture and positive media, the DBFTFs detect, deter and dismantle organizations that facilitate fraud. The task forces promote the sharing of information, ensure the integrity of our laws, and uphold public safety. In April 2007, ICE formed six new task forces, bringing the total number of DBFTFs to 17. These task forces have been responsible for 954 criminal arrests and 635 criminal convictions.
Targeting Fugitives, Criminals, and Gang Members
Finally, our interior enforcement efforts have focused on identifying, arresting, and removing fugitives, criminals, and illegal alien gang members in our country.
In Fiscal Year 2007, ICE Fugitive Operations Teams arrested 30,407 individuals, nearly double the number of arrests in Fiscal Year 2006. The teams, which quintupled in number from 15 to 75 between 2005 and 2007, identify, locate, arrest and remove aliens who have failed to depart the United States pursuant to a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion; or who have failed to report to a Detention and Removal Officer after receiving notice to do so. In Fiscal Year 2008, Congress authorized an additional 29 teams. Fugitive Operations Teams have arrested 14,047 individuals this year.
ICE also expanded its Criminal Alien Program (CAP) in Fiscal Year 2007, initiating formal removal proceedings on 164,000 illegal aliens serving prison terms for crimes they committed in the United States. ICE has already initiated 91,066 formal removal proceedings against additional criminal aliens in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2008. ICE is developing a comprehensive strategic plan to better address CAP.
In addition, in Fiscal Year 2007 ICE arrested 3,302 gang members and their associates as part of Operation Community Shield. This total includes 1,442 criminal arrests. For Fiscal Year 2008 (through March 20, 2008), ICE has arrested 1098 gang members and their associates.
As an added layer of protection against the entry of known gang members, we have worked with the Department of State to expand the list of known organized street gangs whose members are barred from entry into the United States. This action will ensure that any active member of a known street gang from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, or Mexico will be denied a visa.
In all of these enforcement operations, we work cooperatively with state and local law enforcement to make sure we achieve our purpose with minimal disruption to surrounding communities. We also work with community organizations to ensure that children of illegal immigrants directly impacted by these operations are treated humanely and given appropriate care according to established protocols.
III. MAKING TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAMS MORE EFFECTIVE
When Secretary Gutierrez and I announced the 26 reforms to strengthen border security and immigration last August, we noted the importance of improving the effectiveness of existing temporary worker programs to ensure the needs of our country's labor force continue to be met.
One of the consequences of our stepped-up enforcement has been that some economic sectors in our country have experienced labor shortages, most notably the agricultural sector. Of the 1.2 million agricultural workers in the United States, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 are here illegally. This is not an argument for lax enforcement. Rather, we need to make sure our temporary worker programs are effective. To this end, we have joined the Department of Labor in proposing changes to modernize the H-2A seasonal agricultural worker program to remove unnecessarily burdensome restrictions on participation by employers and foreigners, while protecting the rights of laborers.
Under our proposed rule, which we announced in February, an employer will only need to identify an H-2A worker by name in its petition if the worker is already in the United States, even if there is only one worker. It is unreasonable to expect - given the realities of labor recruitment in the agricultural industry - that an agricultural employer in the U.S. would know the names of all the workers it hires from abroad. We have proposed to extend the amount of time a worker can remain in the United States after the end of his or her employment from 10 days to 30 days. This will make it easier for H-2A workers to extend their stay through a job with a new agricultural employer.
In addition, we have proposed to shorten the time period that a worker must wait outside our country before U.S. agricultural employers may petition again for that worker. Currently, workers must wait six months after their H-2A status expires before they can return. We want to cut that time in half to three months.
Of course, while it is important to make the H-2A process as flexible as possible for U.S. agricultural employers, we also want to protect workers. Our proposal requires an employer to attest, under penalty of perjury, that it will not materially change the scope of the foreign worker's duties and place of employment. This will help prevent the employment of H-2A workers in a manner different from what the employer stated on the petition. Employers will also be required to identify any labor recruiter they used to locate foreign workers to fill the H-2A positions. And employers and labor recruiters will be prohibited from imposing fees on foreign workers as a condition for H-2A sponsorship.
To ensure that we have appropriate law enforcement and security measures in place, we are also seeking to prohibit the approval of H-2A petitions for nationals of countries that consistently refuse or unreasonably delay repatriation of their citizens that we are trying to remove from the United States. We are requiring employers to notify us within 48 hours if an H-2A employee is fired or absconds from a worksite.
Finally, we are seeking to implement a land border exit pilot program for certain H-2A guest workers, requiring the temporary workers to register their departure through designated ports of departure before exiting the country. The objective is to ensure that temporary workers in the United States comply with the requirement to leave the country when their work authorization expires.
In addition to these proposed modifications to the H-2A program, we continue to work with federal partners on a number of other reforms announced last August to improve our temporary worker programs. These include reforms of the H-2B program for temporary or seasonal non-agricultural workers; an extension from 1 year to 3 years of the period that professional workers from Canada and Mexico may stay in the U.S. under the TN visa program; and potential improvements to visa programs for high-skilled workers. We will continue to keep the Committee apprised as these efforts proceed...
Through the 287(g) program, ICE delegates enforcement powers to state and local agencies who serve as force multipliers in their communities. As of March 20, 2008, ICE has signed 47 memoranda of agreement (MOAs) with state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in the program. Last year, ICE trained 422 state and local officers. In the program's last two years, it has identified more than 28,000 illegal aliens for potential deportation.
ICE also has continued to expand its BEST teams to work cooperatively with domestic and foreign law enforcement counterparts to dismantle criminal organizations operating near the border. In Fiscal Year 2007, ICE launched new BEST teams in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, and in San Diego, bringing the total number of teams to five. These task forces have been responsible for 519 criminal arrests and 1,145 administrative arrests of illegal aliens, the seizure of 52,518 pounds of marijuana and 2,066 pounds of cocaine, 178 vehicles, 12 improvised explosive devices, and more than $2.9 million in U.S. currency.
ICE DBFTFs are a strong law enforcement presence that combats fraud utilizing existing manpower and authorities. Through comprehensive criminal investigations, successful prosecutions, aggressive asset forfeiture and positive media, the DBFTFs detect, deter and dismantle organizations that facilitate fraud. The task forces promote the sharing of information, ensure the integrity of our laws, and uphold public safety. In April 2007, ICE formed six new task forces, bringing the total number of DBFTFs to 17. These task forces have been responsible for 954 criminal arrests and 635 criminal convictions.
Targeting Fugitives, Criminals, and Gang Members
Finally, our interior enforcement efforts have focused on identifying, arresting, and removing fugitives, criminals, and illegal alien gang members in our country.
In Fiscal Year 2007, ICE Fugitive Operations Teams arrested 30,407 individuals, nearly double the number of arrests in Fiscal Year 2006. The teams, which quintupled in number from 15 to 75 between 2005 and 2007, identify, locate, arrest and remove aliens who have failed to depart the United States pursuant to a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion; or who have failed to report to a Detention and Removal Officer after receiving notice to do so. In Fiscal Year 2008, Congress authorized an additional 29 teams. Fugitive Operations Teams have arrested 14,047 individuals this year.
ICE also expanded its Criminal Alien Program (CAP) in Fiscal Year 2007, initiating formal removal proceedings on 164,000 illegal aliens serving prison terms for crimes they committed in the United States. ICE has already initiated 91,066 formal removal proceedings against additional criminal aliens in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2008. ICE is developing a comprehensive strategic plan to better address CAP.
In addition, in Fiscal Year 2007 ICE arrested 3,302 gang members and their associates as part of Operation Community Shield. This total includes 1,442 criminal arrests. For Fiscal Year 2008 (through March 20, 2008), ICE has arrested 1098 gang members and their associates.
As an added layer of protection against the entry of known gang members, we have worked with the Department of State to expand the list of known organized street gangs whose members are barred from entry into the United States. This action will ensure that any active member of a known street gang from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, or Mexico will be denied a visa.
In all of these enforcement operations, we work cooperatively with state and local law enforcement to make sure we achieve our purpose with minimal disruption to surrounding communities. We also work with community organizations to ensure that children of illegal immigrants directly impacted by these operations are treated humanely and given appropriate care according to established protocols.
III. MAKING TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAMS MORE EFFECTIVE
When Secretary Gutierrez and I announced the 26 reforms to strengthen border security and immigration last August, we noted the importance of improving the effectiveness of existing temporary worker programs to ensure the needs of our country's labor force continue to be met.
One of the consequences of our stepped-up enforcement has been that some economic sectors in our country have experienced labor shortages, most notably the agricultural sector. Of the 1.2 million agricultural workers in the United States, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 are here illegally. This is not an argument for lax enforcement. Rather, we need to make sure our temporary worker programs are effective. To this end, we have joined the Department of Labor in proposing changes to modernize the H-2A seasonal agricultural worker program to remove unnecessarily burdensome restrictions on participation by employers and foreigners, while protecting the rights of laborers.
Under our proposed rule, which we announced in February, an employer will only need to identify an H-2A worker by name in its petition if the worker is already in the United States, even if there is only one worker. It is unreasonable to expect - given the realities of labor recruitment in the agricultural industry - that an agricultural employer in the U.S. would know the names of all the workers it hires from abroad. We have proposed to extend the amount of time a worker can remain in the United States after the end of his or her employment from 10 days to 30 days. This will make it easier for H-2A workers to extend their stay through a job with a new agricultural employer.
In addition, we have proposed to shorten the time period that a worker must wait outside our country before U.S. agricultural employers may petition again for that worker. Currently, workers must wait six months after their H-2A status expires before they can return. We want to cut that time in half to three months.
Of course, while it is important to make the H-2A process as flexible as possible for U.S. agricultural employers, we also want to protect workers. Our proposal requires an employer to attest, under penalty of perjury, that it will not materially change the scope of the foreign worker's duties and place of employment. This will help prevent the employment of H-2A workers in a manner different from what the employer stated on the petition. Employers will also be required to identify any labor recruiter they used to locate foreign workers to fill the H-2A positions. And employers and labor recruiters will be prohibited from imposing fees on foreign workers as a condition for H-2A sponsorship.
To ensure that we have appropriate law enforcement and security measures in place, we are also seeking to prohibit the approval of H-2A petitions for nationals of countries that consistently refuse or unreasonably delay repatriation of their citizens that we are trying to remove from the United States. We are requiring employers to notify us within 48 hours if an H-2A employee is fired or absconds from a worksite.
Finally, we are seeking to implement a land border exit pilot program for certain H-2A guest workers, requiring the temporary workers to register their departure through designated ports of departure before exiting the country. The objective is to ensure that temporary workers in the United States comply with the requirement to leave the country when their work authorization expires.
In addition to these proposed modifications to the H-2A program, we continue to work with federal partners on a number of other reforms announced last August to improve our temporary worker programs. These include reforms of the H-2B program for temporary or seasonal non-agricultural workers; an extension from 1 year to 3 years of the period that professional workers from Canada and Mexico may stay in the U.S. under the TN visa program; and potential improvements to visa programs for high-skilled workers. We will continue to keep the Committee apprised as these efforts proceed...
A few words by Michael Chertoff Part I
These next 5 posts are from Michael Chertoff's testimony to Congress. We apologize for the length, but thought it would be worthwhile to make it available for those who want this information. Hopefully in the future we will be able to bring this information to you in a much succinct manner.
-----
CQ Congressional Testimony
April 2, 2008 Wednesday
HOMELAND SECURITY OVERSIGHT
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
Statement on The Honorable Michael Chertoff Secretary United States Department of Homeland Security
Committee on Senate Judiciary
April 2, 2008
Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Specter, and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for inviting me to appear before the Committee to discuss the Department's progress in securing our homeland and protecting the American people. At the outset, I'd like to thank the Committee for its past support of the Department and your continued guidance as we take aggressive steps to achieve our mission.
As you know, on March 1st we reached an important milestone with the five-year anniversary of the Department's creation. In those five years, we have acted with great urgency and clarity of purpose to meet our five priority goals, which are protecting our nation from dangerous people, protecting our nation from dangerous goods, protecting critical infrastructure, strengthening emergency preparedness and response, and continuing to integrate the Department's management and operations.
Today I would like to focus my attention on one of those goals, namely protecting our nation from dangerous people. In particular, I would like to discuss the Department's efforts with respect to the critical issue of immigration. As you know, we are a nation of immigrants and our country draws tremendous strength from the fact that people all over the world choose the United States to live and work and raise their families. But we are also a nation of laws, and illegal immigration threatens our national security, challenges our sovereignty, and undermines the rule of law.
We remain committed to doing everything within our power and within the law to promote legal immigration and to end illegal immigration. For this reason, on August 10, 2007, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and I announced a set of 26 reforms the Administration would immediately pursue to address our nation's immigration challenges within existing law. We have been aggressively pursuing this agenda since then, as my testimony will illustrate.
Today I would like to summarize the Department's efforts across five key areas:
I. Strengthening border security through greater deployment of infrastructure, manpower, and technology;
II. Enhancing interior enforcement at worksites, providing new tools to employers, and identifying and arresting fugitives, criminals, and illegal alien gang members;
III. Making temporary worker programs more effective;
IV. Improving the current immigration system; and
V. Assimilating new immigrants into our civic culture and society.
In each category, you will see clear progress over the past year, reflecting our determination to make a down-payment on credibility with the American people and to meet their rising demands to secure the border and tighten immigration enforcement.
But I want to emphasize at the outset that despite our substantial gains over the past year, enforcement alone will not permanently solve this problem. As long as the opportunity for higher wages and a better life draws people across the border illegally or encourages them to remain in our country illegally, we will continue to face a challenge securing the border and enforcing immigration laws in the interior. For this reason, I remain hopeful that Congress will once again work together to take up this issue and provide a solution that will fix this long- standing problem.
I. STRENGTHENING BORDER SECURITY
I would like to begin today by discussing our efforts to secure the border through installation of tactical infrastructure, including pedestrian and vehicle fencing; hiring and training new Border Patrol agents; and deploying a range of technology to the border, including cameras, sensors, unmanned aerial systems, and ground-based radar.
Pedestrian and Vehicle Fencing
We made a commitment to build 670 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing on the southern border by the end of this calendar year to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, drugs, and vehicles. We are on pace to meet that commitment. As of March 17, we have built 309 miles of fence, including 169 miles of pedestrian fence and 140 miles of vehicle fence.
In building this fence, we have sought the cooperation of land owners, state and local leaders, and members of border communities. We are willing to listen to any concerns communities have with respect to fence construction and we are willing to seek reasonable alternatives provided the solution meets the operational needs of the Border Patrol.
Though we will try to accommodate landowner concerns, we cannot indefinitely delay our efforts or engage in endless debate when national security requires that we build the fence. Moreover, in areas where we use our authority to waive certain environmental laws that threaten to impede our progress, we do so in conjunction with the necessary environmental studies so that we can take reasonable steps to mitigate the impact of our construction. Of course, we will provide appropriate compensation for any property the federal government acquires through the process of eminent domain.
U.S. Border Patrol
Fencing is an important element of a secure border, but it does not provide a total solution. For this reason, we also have continued to expand the Border Patrol to guard our nation's frontline and respond to incursions with speed and agility.
Over the past year, we have accelerated recruitment, hiring, and training of Border Patrol agents. 15,500 Border Patrol agents are currently on board and we will have over 18,000 agents by the end of this year - more than twice as many as when President Bush took office. This represents the largest expansion of the Border Patrol in its history, and we have grown the force without sacrificing the quality of training the Border Patrol Academy prides itself on delivering.
As an additional force multiplier, we continue to benefit from the support of the National Guard under Operation Jump Start. This has been an extremely fruitful partnership. We are grateful to the Department of Defense as well as governors across the United States for allowing us to leverage the National Guard in support of our border security mission.
Technology and SBInet
A third critical element of border security is technology. While not a panacea, technology allows us to substantially expand our coverage of the border, more effectively identify and resolve incursions, and improve Border Patrol response time.
Over the past year, we have deployed additional technology as part of our Secure Border Initiative (SBI), which includes the development of the Project 28 (P-28) prototype in Arizona to test our ability to integrate several border technologies into a unified system. There has been some confusion about the purpose of the P-28 prototype and its role in the Department's larger efforts at the border. Allow me to put P-28 into its appropriate context.
P-28 was designed to be a demonstration of critical technologies and system integration under the broader SBInet initiative. Specifically, its purpose was to demonstrate the feasibility of the SBInet technical approach developed by the contractor, Boeing, and to show that this type of technology could be deployed to help secure the southwest border. After successful field testing, we formally accepted P-28 from Boeing on February 21st of this year. We have a system that is operational and has already assisted in identifying and apprehending more than 2,600 illegal aliens trying to cross the border since September 2007.
It is important, however, to recognize that key outcomes of any prototype or demonstration are the lessons learned. These lessons learned are part of the true value of the technology demonstration. P-28 is no exception. Different segments of the border require different approaches and solutions. A P-28-like system would be neither cost-effective nor necessary everywhere on the border. Accordingly, we are building upon lessons learned to develop a new border-wide architecture that will incorporate upgraded software, mobile surveillance systems, unattended ground sensors, unmanned and manned aviation assets, and an improved communication system to enable better connectivity and system performance. This is Block 1 of our SBInet technology and will be deployed this year to two sites in Arizona.
As part of our broader SBI effort, we are continuing to deploy additional assets and technology along both the southern and northern borders. This includes a fourth unmanned aerial system, with plans to bring two more on-line this fiscal year. One of these systems will be operating on the northern border. We also anticipate expanding our ground-based mobile surveillance systems from six to forty. And we will acquire 2,500 additional unattended ground sensors this fiscal year, with 1,500 of those planned for deployment on the northern border and 1,000 on the southwest border. These will supplement the more than 7,500 ground sensors currently in operation. To continue to support our investment in border security, we have requested $775 million in funding as part of the President's Fiscal Year 2009 budget.
We are also mindful of the need to coordinate these strategies with our operational components in order to achieve effective situational awareness along the border. Intelligence and information integration is a priority for the President and Congress, and we have taken steps to achieve this goal. The Department's Homeland Intelligence Support Team, or "HIST", working with DHS operational components, ensures that strategic fencing, border patrol personnel, and intelligence technology form the foundation of our Secure Border Initiative. The HIST, an initiative co-located at the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), will coordinate the delivery of national intelligence and information-sharing capabilities in support of operational objectives along the border. The HIST will work directly with our Border Patrol, law enforcement personnel, and intelligence analysts to identify how intelligence can strengthen our enforcement activities and ensure information is coordinated with key stakeholders quickly and accurately.
Metrics of Success
Have our efforts achieved their desired impact? If we look at the decline in apprehension rates over the past year and third-party indicators such as a decrease in remittances to Mexico, the answer is unquestionably yes.
For Fiscal Year 2007, CBP reported a 20 percent decline in apprehensions across the southern border, suggesting fewer illegal immigrants are attempting to enter our country. This trend has continued. During the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2008, southwest border apprehensions were down 18 percent, and nationwide they were down 17 percent over the same period the previous year.
Through programs like Operation Streamline, we have achieved even greater decreases in apprehension rates in certain sectors. Under Operation Streamline, individuals caught illegally crossing the border in designated high-traffic zones are not immediately returned across the border. Instead, they are detained and prosecuted prior to removal. In the Yuma sector, for example, apprehension rates dropped nearly 70 percent in Fiscal Year 2007 after we initiated Operation Streamline. In the first quarter of this year, the Department of Justice prosecuted 1,200 cases in Yuma alone. And in Laredo, we experienced a reduction in apprehensions of 33 percent in the program's first 45 days.
In addition to the decline in apprehensions, our frontline personnel also prevented record amounts of illegal drugs from entering the United States last year. In Fiscal Year 2007, CBP officers seized 3.2 million pounds of narcotics at and between our official ports of entry. Keeping these drugs out of our country not only protects the border, but it protects cities and communities where these drugs may have ultimately been sold or distributed...
from Lexis Nexus
Thursday, April 3, 2008
If you think this bird looks sad now, wait until the border fence goes up
Who in the U.S. Government really makes the decisions these days? How does Chertoff decide that he can bypass environmental regulations so he can hurry and build the border fence? Why doesn't anyone try to stop him?
April 3, 2008
New York Times
Editorial
Michael Chertoff’s Insult
To the long list of things the Bush administration is willing to trash in its rush to appease immigration hard-liners, you can now add dozens of important environmental laws and hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile habitat on the southern border.
On Tuesday, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, waived the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and other environmental protections to allow the government to finish building 700 or so miles of border fence by year’s end without undertaking legally mandated reviews of the consequences for threatened wildlife and their habitats.
Will this stop or slow illegal immigration? No. Long experience has shown that billions of barricade-building dollars will simply shift some of the flow to more remote parts of the 2,000-mile southern border. And no amount of border fence will keep out the 40 percent of illegal immigrants who enter legally then stay too long.
It will be a disaster on the ground. One example of what’s at risk is the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. It runs in checkerboard fashion along the 200 miles of the Rio Grande before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. When the fence is finished, most of the refuge’s 95,000 acres — and the ocelots, jaguarundis and other rare species that live there — would wind up on the side of the fence closest to Mexico, virtually impossible to monitor and protect. Other sensitive areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas would also be affected.
Though environmental groups are planning to go to court to stop the Chertoff plan, a surer remedy lies on Capitol Hill. Congress created this mess by giving the secretary waiver authority in 2005. Then, in December, it gave itself an out, requiring that before the Department of Homeland Security receives any funds, the secretary must show that he has properly consulted with local officials and landowners. He must also provide a detailed justification for each separate segment of the fence.
To prevent an environmental disaster, Congress should use that oversight power to block the project, then move rapidly to rewrite a fundamentally bad law.
for link to NYT editorial click the title of this post
photo: http://www.ebirdseed.com/blog/DSC_0030_enh_400.jpg
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Returning home to Houston
After a two week trip to Mexico I returned to Houston yesterday, landing at Bush Airport. The flight had been a little difficult, the man next to me kept shoving his elbow past the armrest. He seemed oblivious to what he was doing, but I didn't say anything - (probably should have). Maybe it was an omen for what was to come. He and his wife jumped up (they were in the seats closer to the window, I had the aisle seat) and basically shoved me back out of the way so they could rush out of the plane. I told myself to be calm, maybe different people have different definitions of body space. I thought the couple was from Mexico, because they spoke no English and had trouble with the customs form. But it turned out they were Americans - they stood in line at for U.S. Citizens and Residents just like I did.
It was an interesting day. A couple behind me who were speaking only Spanish were approached by one of the ICE employees (a woman who looked like she was in her 70s, I'm wondering if ICE if hiring retired people to work at the airport) - the man asked her if he was in the wrong place, she said well, she hadn't thought about it because she was thinking he was a diplomat. He wasn't - but they were so far out of place she let them stay in the U.S. line.
I approached the counter when called and was faced by an officer named Ramos. He was nice and didn't ask any rude questions. But he kept typing something on his keyboard. I asked him if the strip on my passport didn't work anymore and he said no. He was correcting some information - Later I wondered if it was because my passport shows me with brown hair and now it's gray.
Anyway, I then picked up my suitcase and was walking through the agricultural customs section. I have never in my life had a problem doing this when I have flown. As a teenager and college student I and my friends were regularly searched when crossing back into the U.S. in a car at the Laredo international bridge. But that was so long ago it hardly crosses my mind anymore, plus like I said, it was when we crossed in a car.
All of a sudden, after the officer standing at the counter said I was ok and could leave, a young ICE officer with an Italian sounding name that starts with an "L" came out and pointed to me. I thought it was strange since I have never seen anyone get pulled out of that line.
He was very nice and formal, even apologized for taking my time and asked if I was on a schedule, I said no, but I was worried about my husband being worried while he waited on the other side. He asked if I went to Mexico on vacation or business. I said the first week was a vacation with my husband, then he returned and I had to go to Cuernavaca to do some interviews - so the officer then said "you went on business" (I had said vacation on my customs form). He asked me how many times I had traveled internationally the last year. I couldn't remember exactly and said 4-5, but it turned out to only be 3 (guess it felt like a lot because all the trips were taken since Dec. 07)
He went through my carry-on and saw my digital SLR - he said "nice camera" and asked me if was a Canon Rebel.. I said no, it's a Nikkon, and the university purchased it - he can check the silver tag on the side - that says State of Texas property. He said he didn't need to look at it. He looked through my book bag and saw I had a Mac laptop - he said "I see you use a mac, I think they are great. Have you seen the new one?" I said yes - the Mac Book Air - that it's really cool... its the laptop that is so slim and weighs hardly anything. He said no that's not it, its so small and you can type anything on it, check your email etc, but is still a laptop.
Then he asked me if I knew what the "Brazos de Dios" was. I said sure, I just published a book on Texas that has a chapter on the Brazos River. He didn't seem to hear me and went on about how La Salle came to Texas. He started to talk about Wharton County - I said I know the place - my kid's paternal grandparents are from there - (don't think he heard this either). He said "I'm from Wharton County, my family has lived on the same land for 6 generations, since back to the Civil War."
He got to my larger suitcase, (which was also a carry one but I had checked it in) and said "this is the one." He took everything out, including the books and then put things back in, asking me to zip it up. He never checked the little box I bought in Morelia that was wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with scotch tape. I'm not really sure what he was looking for.
I told him I was a professor at UH. He asked me what I taught. He seemed to get a little more serious after that. I asked him how they chose who they would search. He said it was random, that he walked out and just picked me.
I was more relaxed for a second until I remembered the guy who was coming from Europe to teach at Notre Dame and they didn't let him in the country.
As I left I reminded him about my book on Texas and said that he might find it interesting - or - that he might not like it since it has stuff on slavery. I don't remember what he said after that, but I was finally able to leave the airport.
Regardless of his courtesy, it was a strange and tense experience. Since this had never happened to me before, I couldn't help that it had something to do with this blog or my work with DREAMERS. My phones at home click so much my family has always wondered if we are one of the millions being listened to by DHS.
In his very polite double speak I heard the young officer say that his family had been in the U.S. over a century and a half -- was that a way of saying that long term residency makes you a better American? or was he insinuating he was more American than myself because I have a Spanish surname?
In a way, the statement about the land owned since the civil war felt to me like rubbing salt in a wound. Even though I was born in Houston and am a 7th generation Texas (hey, my mother's family came in 1750 to what is now south Texas and my great great grandfather was a Spanish Speaking confederate soldier! - no kidding) - I felt he was talking to all the DREAMERS, former DREAMERS or other recent immigrants that he confronts. That 6 generation thing was important for him.
When I got home my husband asked me why didn't I tell the guy about my family being here so long. I said I didn't think he would hear me anyway. Besides, I come from one of those mixed families -- my Dad was born in Mexico.
I also didn't tell him about my chapter on the Brazos River. He called the river, "Brazos de Dios" (arms of God), I titled the chapter "River of the Demonic."
He told me "welcome home" when I was walking away.
Maybe I should wear a "Daughter of the Confederacy" sign next time I fly internationally.
photo: http://www.musicforgifts.com/ForHome/WelcomeHome2x2.jpg
Friday, March 21, 2008
Chertoff: we are serious about immigration enforcement
Chertoff's comment sounds comical - it is very clear that DHS and ICE are not "serious" about enforcement. What they are serious about is producing fear among a significant amount of the U.S. population - while falsely announcing that enforcement will create a "safe America" for citizens.
Producing fear has always been known as a way to maintain powerful political control of a group (or groups) of people. Being afraid gets people to listen and obey.
Being afraid keeps the Other group (i.e. undocumented immigrants) quiet and subservient. It also keeps people from doing anything - they stay in their jobs, schools and neighborhood. New stories about undocumented people being detained while they are trying to return to their home countries is scaring even those who have given up.
The idea is create terror for a few - this will produce an example for the rest.
This tactic has already worked. A planned protest on May 1 in Chicago has been canceled - the reason being that protesting would make too many people on the other side angry - and might hurt negotiations on a better comprehensive immigration package.
Undocumented people in the U.S. are more vulnerable than ever. The idea of "reporting" someone to immigration was something that very rarely happened. Now it is commonplace. They live in fear - many having double lives (how many DREAMERS have kept their status a secret?)
Chertoff and his people are serious about disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of families, creating situations where many many children are being separated from their families or returned to a country they have no memory of.
If he were really serious he would be shipping everybody (who is undocumented) in railroad cars like Hitler did. But he isn't - because in truth - Chertoff and his supporters don't really want all the undocumented workers to leave... they just want to bother a few so they can shake up the rest.
This is all theater - a true tragedy - the acting is good - reality is on shaky ground.
Speaking of theater and tragedy, where is the chorus that should be telling Chertoff he is doing something wrong?
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U.S. Tweaks Proposal On Illegal Workers
Employers Could Get Warnings in June
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 22, 2008; A03
The Bush administration yesterday renewed its drive to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal immigrants by slightly altering an earlier initiative stalled by a federal judge since last September.
If the new proposal satisfies the court, the government could begin warning 140,000 employers in writing as early as June about suspect Social Security numbers used by their employees and force businesses to resolve questions about their identities or fire them within 90 days.
The result could intensify an economic and political debate over the administration's immigration policies in the months leading up to November's elections for president and Congress.
The mailings, known as "no-match" letters, were enjoined by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco while he hears a lawsuit brought by a wide-ranging coalition of major American labor, business, farm and civil liberties groups.
The plaintiffs, including the AFL-CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union, allege that the plan will cause major workplace disruptions and discriminate against legal workers, including native-born Americans.
A systematic effort to wean the U.S. economy off an estimated 8.7 million illegal workers has long been blocked by economic interests and civil rights concerns. But the Bush administration considers that effort the linchpin of its immigration enforcement efforts.
"We are serious about immigration enforcement," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a brief written statement yesterday. "The No-Match Rule is an important tool for cracking down on illegal hiring practices while providing honest employers with the guidance they need."
The 44-page proposal released yesterday makes mostly technical changes to the administration's initial proposal. It includes a statement about the regulation's impact on small businesses, as required by a 1980 law. According to DHS, compliance will cost companies with fewer than 100 workers $3,000 to $7,500 overall, while it will cost larger companies $13,000 to $34,000. But these estimates do not include the cost of firing and replacing workers who lack legal documentation.
"DHS does not believe that the direct costs incurred by employers . . . would create a significant economic impact" on most companies, the department stated.
Opponents said the proposal makes no substantive changes to a plan that Breyer in October wrote would have "severe" effects and produce irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers. Lawyers familiar with the plaintiffs' case said they expect to battle the department in the rulemaking process and the courts through the summer.
Critics have noted that the Social Security Administration's inspector general has concluded the database used to cull suspicious numbers contains erroneous records on 17.8 million people, 70 percent of whom are native-born U.S. citizens. Even if the actual error rate of no-match letters is far lower, labor leaders say that unscrupulous employers will use the rule to burden or harass anyone who looks or sounds foreign.
"It's an attempt to justify the fundamentally flawed database without actually fixing any of the problems," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the ACLU immigrants' rights project.
Angelo I. Amador, director of immigration policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the DHS glossed over the true costs. "It keeps the questions before the judge the same. I would have been more concerned if they had come up with a big study" detailing the broader impact on businesses, he said.
for link to WP article click the title of this post
cartoon: http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/CARI.Chertoff.gif
Monday, January 21, 2008
Will ICE get training in Human Rights?
Now that the Department of Homeland Security is planning it's large transition (between presidential administrations), would it be possible to add some additional training in Human Rights?
DHS has taken out the "color coated charts" and has gathered its best minds to figure out how to stay organized when the U.S. gets a new president. They have even been receiving consultation from the Council for Excellence in Government and the National Academy of Public Administration. I wonder if anyone could make a suggestion.
In addition to the news of the transition/training, DHS also brought up its old song and dance about our vulnerability to terrorists attacks:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012001657.html
DHS has taken out the "color coated charts" and has gathered its best minds to figure out how to stay organized when the U.S. gets a new president. They have even been receiving consultation from the Council for Excellence in Government and the National Academy of Public Administration. I wonder if anyone could make a suggestion.
In addition to the news of the transition/training, DHS also brought up its old song and dance about our vulnerability to terrorists attacks:
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...the weeks before and after Jan. 20, 2009, may be a period of heightened vulnerability for the country. Pakistan, Britain and Spain were hit by bombings during national elections. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing came shortly after the start of the Clinton administration.
"It is in the transition period, when people are doing the handoff, that there is a natural degree of confusion, which creates an invitation to people to carry out terrorist attacks or other damaging enterprises," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the department's advisory council this month.
Homeland Security Prepares for Its First TransitionBy Stephen Barr
Monday, January 21, 2008; D01The handoff to the next administration is a year off, but Paul. A. Schneider, the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, is making plans and keeping track of key lieutenants with a color-coded chart.
The chart shows critical jobs at 25 agencies and offices in the department. Schneider's goal is to make sure that either the No. 1 or No. 2 in each post is a career civil service employee. When Bush administration political appointees go out the door next January, the career employees will provide for continuity of operations on the borders, at airports and in the headquarters.
It will be the first transition for Homeland Security, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
And it needs to go smoothly, because the weeks before and after Jan. 20, 2009, may be a period of heightened vulnerability for the country. Pakistan, Britain and Spain were hit by bombings during national elections. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing came shortly after the start of the Clinton administration.
"It is in the transition period, when people are doing the handoff, that there is a natural degree of confusion, which creates an invitation to people to carry out terrorist attacks or other damaging enterprises," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the department's advisory council this month.
At the department's request, the council, which includes local and state officials, nonprofit and corporate executives, and academics, prepared recommendations for the transition. The department also has sought transition advice from the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government and the National Academy of Public Administration...
Theresa C. Bertucci, deputy assistant secretary for management at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has identified 61 vital positions at ICE, tried to figure out who may be leaving and sought to determine who is ready for promotion to fill any gaps in the leadership ranks.
She, too, is a career official, with a resume that includes 27 years at the Justice Department. Her staff is putting together briefing books for immigration's next political cadre -- what has to be done in the first 30 days, then what's important for the next 60 days.
In coming months, career executives tapped to lead the transition at Homeland Security will attend leadership conferences and participate in crisis drills. "It's one thing putting players on the field and another to have them know each other and work as a unified team," Schneider said...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012001657.html
Saturday, October 13, 2007
What! Stop the Wild Bunch Immigration Raids?
The Wild Bunch Administration directs Wild Bunch Immigration Raids. It make sense. Totally logical that the administration is encouraging these out of control raids to punish Congress for not passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
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Editorial
Homeland Bunkers and Alien Litterbugs
New York Times
Published: October 13, 2007
...The current homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, was memorably overwhelmed by Katrina, and he has since been too often a study in executive whimsy. Recall the eerie statement of his own “gut feeling” that a terrorist attack could occur perchance last summer. More recently, Mr. Chertoff defended the administration’s fence along the Mexican border as an environmental boon because illegal migrants are such litterbugs as they skulk toward opportunity. “I’ve seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas,” he rued.
Statements like that should make Americans look up in wonder at what sort of expert insights their taxes are subsidizing. Congress already has had to head off the homeland department’s plan to create its own spy satellite program for tracking threats from nature, terrorists and illegal intruders. Lawmakers were rightly wary that it was yet another way for this administration to invade citizens’ privacy and mangle civil liberties.
...Under this administration, it can veer from the Wild Bunch immigration raids lately terrifying innocent citizens, to the bizarre plan of Huntsville, Ala., for a mammoth fallout shelter for 20,000 people..
for complete editorial click title to this post
cartoon: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20020131/cartoon20020131.gif____
Thursday, October 11, 2007
SSA No-Match Letters Blocked by Judge in San Francisco
Rules wasn't made on basis of the errors in the SS system, but on the possibility of "irreparable harm" to workers and employers.
This will hold for a while until Chertoff formally appeals. The way the SS no-match has been recieved so far by judges, there may be a good chance it will never come to pass.
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Judge blocks effort to use no-match letters to fire illegal workers
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 11, 2007
A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday blocked the Bush administration's attempt to enlist the nation's employers to banish illegal immigrants from the workplace.
Saying the administration's plan "would result in irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers," U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer barred authorities from threatening to prosecute businesses that fail to fire employees whose Social Security numbers don't match government records.
Breyer's preliminary injunction is likely to keep the proposal on hold until sometime next year.
...The injunction is binding until the case goes to trial, a proceeding that is many months away. But the administration is virtually certain to ask the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overrule Breyer and let the new system take effect while it is being challenged. The court might act on such a request by the end of this year.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, whose agency issued the rule requiring employer notification, said the administration is considering an appeal.
The premise of the rule, he said in a statement, is that "employer diligence will make it more difficult for illegal aliens to use a Social Security number to get a job."
But Lucas Guttentag, chief immigration lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent the unions in a lawsuit challenging the rule, said the plan's fatal flaw is its reliance on error-filled Social Security records that could lead to the firings of hundreds of thousands of citizens and legal residents.
The administration "showed a callous disregard for legal workers and citizens by adopting a rule that punishes innocent workers and employers under the guise of so-called immigration enforcement," Guttentag said.
Chertoff announced the new rule in August to toughen a 1986 immigration law's little-enforced provision banning businesses from knowingly employing illegal immigrants. The administration adopted the rule a year earlier but kept it on hold until after a comprehensive immigration bill died in Congress in June.
Under the new regulation, the government planned to send warning letters this fall to 140,000 employers with a total workforce of more than 8 million. Officials said those employers typically had at least 10 workers whose Social Security numbers on W-2 tax forms did not match the government's database.
The so-called no-match letters would give the employer 90 days to resolve the discrepancy and an additional three days for an employee to submit a new, valid number. After that, an employer who failed to fire the worker would be subject to civil fines or criminal prosecution.
The suit by the AFL-CIO and other unions, filed Aug. 29, drew support from major business groups. They said the new rule would force employers - who now rely on immigration documents presented by job applicants - to set up expensive new systems to verify workers' immigration status in an impossibly short time.
"It's an attempt to enlist employers as immigration cops," Randy Johnson, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday. While such an effort is not necessarily improper, Johnson said, the administration's plan would do little to clear up employer confusion about no-match letters and would snare large numbers of legal employees along with the undocumented.
...Many legitimate workers would be unable to locate records within sprawling federal agencies and clear up discrepancies within 90 days, the unions said. They said the rule also would prompt employers to fire, or refuse to hire, legal workers with foreign names or appearances.
Breyer said the unions' prediction is plausible.
"There is a strong likelihood that employers may simply fire employees who are unable to resolve the discrepancy within 90 days, even if the employees are actually authorized to work," he said.
..."Needless to say, this change in position will have massive ramifications for how employers treat the receipt of no-match letters," Breyer said.
In addition, Breyer said, Homeland Security lacked legal authority for a statement in the letter that assured employers that the government would not sue them for discrimination if they fired workers because of unresolved no-match letters. There has been no such assurance from the Justice Department office that is responsible for such suits, Breyer said.
The judge also said he has "serious doubts" about the department's assertion that the new rule would not impose a significant burden on small businesses. Federal law requires the government to conduct a study of costs and alternatives when a new regulation causes such burdens.
E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.
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This will hold for a while until Chertoff formally appeals. The way the SS no-match has been recieved so far by judges, there may be a good chance it will never come to pass.
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Judge blocks effort to use no-match letters to fire illegal workers
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 11, 2007
A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday blocked the Bush administration's attempt to enlist the nation's employers to banish illegal immigrants from the workplace.
Saying the administration's plan "would result in irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers," U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer barred authorities from threatening to prosecute businesses that fail to fire employees whose Social Security numbers don't match government records.
Breyer's preliminary injunction is likely to keep the proposal on hold until sometime next year.
...The injunction is binding until the case goes to trial, a proceeding that is many months away. But the administration is virtually certain to ask the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overrule Breyer and let the new system take effect while it is being challenged. The court might act on such a request by the end of this year.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, whose agency issued the rule requiring employer notification, said the administration is considering an appeal.
The premise of the rule, he said in a statement, is that "employer diligence will make it more difficult for illegal aliens to use a Social Security number to get a job."
But Lucas Guttentag, chief immigration lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent the unions in a lawsuit challenging the rule, said the plan's fatal flaw is its reliance on error-filled Social Security records that could lead to the firings of hundreds of thousands of citizens and legal residents.
The administration "showed a callous disregard for legal workers and citizens by adopting a rule that punishes innocent workers and employers under the guise of so-called immigration enforcement," Guttentag said.
Chertoff announced the new rule in August to toughen a 1986 immigration law's little-enforced provision banning businesses from knowingly employing illegal immigrants. The administration adopted the rule a year earlier but kept it on hold until after a comprehensive immigration bill died in Congress in June.
Under the new regulation, the government planned to send warning letters this fall to 140,000 employers with a total workforce of more than 8 million. Officials said those employers typically had at least 10 workers whose Social Security numbers on W-2 tax forms did not match the government's database.
The so-called no-match letters would give the employer 90 days to resolve the discrepancy and an additional three days for an employee to submit a new, valid number. After that, an employer who failed to fire the worker would be subject to civil fines or criminal prosecution.
The suit by the AFL-CIO and other unions, filed Aug. 29, drew support from major business groups. They said the new rule would force employers - who now rely on immigration documents presented by job applicants - to set up expensive new systems to verify workers' immigration status in an impossibly short time.
"It's an attempt to enlist employers as immigration cops," Randy Johnson, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday. While such an effort is not necessarily improper, Johnson said, the administration's plan would do little to clear up employer confusion about no-match letters and would snare large numbers of legal employees along with the undocumented.
...Many legitimate workers would be unable to locate records within sprawling federal agencies and clear up discrepancies within 90 days, the unions said. They said the rule also would prompt employers to fire, or refuse to hire, legal workers with foreign names or appearances.
Breyer said the unions' prediction is plausible.
"There is a strong likelihood that employers may simply fire employees who are unable to resolve the discrepancy within 90 days, even if the employees are actually authorized to work," he said.
..."Needless to say, this change in position will have massive ramifications for how employers treat the receipt of no-match letters," Breyer said.
In addition, Breyer said, Homeland Security lacked legal authority for a statement in the letter that assured employers that the government would not sue them for discrimination if they fired workers because of unresolved no-match letters. There has been no such assurance from the Justice Department office that is responsible for such suits, Breyer said.
The judge also said he has "serious doubts" about the department's assertion that the new rule would not impose a significant burden on small businesses. Federal law requires the government to conduct a study of costs and alternatives when a new regulation causes such burdens.
E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.
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